November 27, 2009
This week I have been working in two schools in Essex for Creative Partnerships consulting on ways of improving literacy skills using outdoor apparatus. I’ve worked on several projects like this over the years and it always amazes how much of a benefit can be gained by taking children outside and getting them to engage with the environment. Through working this way we have managed to teach the year two children about metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia and alliteration in a fun, active and exciting way and in a way that they will remmeber since there are now concrete memories associated with the lines they have created. At one point one of the students came up to me with a twig which he proceeded to snap asking for confiramtion that it was a “snapping” sound he could hear so that he could write a line using onomatopoeia.
Naturally using the great outdoors does come with its challenges – just two minutes after venturing outside on one session the heavens opened up but as the children ran back into class they spied a rainbow. The class were literally yelping with joy – from that one incident we had an array of fantastic lines – one child said “Winter is as white as a frozen rainbow” .
Many schools seem to be taking this idea of outdoor learning on bard with some even building outdoor classrooms. I wish such iniatives had been around when I was a child ( a child who could not sit down for very long)
If you would like to know how you can incorporate outdoor learning in your school please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
November 15, 2009
A grey day, fresh
Running again past the terraced housing
Small unkempt gardens leading to modest brick homes
The smell made me turn
Without a doubt, death
A cloying smell
Dusty without dust
Penetrating without form
Dark and heavy as a cloud
The smell made me turn
It looked dead
Scraggy Tongue out
Eyes black if eyes were even there
perhaps they’d been supped away
The fur sparse, mange scrubbed
Revealing the sore scratched skin beneath
It looked dead for days
Smelt dead for days
Rotten and powdery
The jolts or spasms
Were mechanical
As if willed only by nerves
Making the head leave the ground
The topside leg raise
As if death were prodding it unseen
Beckoning it to come.
Then the breaths were apparent
Three in quick succession for evey jolt
Breaths that inflated the rib cage
Of a young fox
Too young to look so withered
Like a rag left in the rain
In Peru I’d found a kitten
Curled up in a gutter
Just like those fake cats
with the breathing mechansim installed
‘the captains cat’
This little black kitten looked peaceful
Tail wrapped around it
The orange sunset of peru warming it
The eyes were hollow
The thing long dead dried and preserved
Mummified by the road
Red mites hidden in it’s face
Like it just calmly gave up
Picked a spot to watch the world by and died.
“what are you looking at?”
She was annoyed by my proclamations outside her garden
Of “damn” and “Jesus” for every prod by the unseen hand.
“I’ll ring my husband”
She seemed unfussed by the death throes of the fox
I longed to kill it
To end the dummy like spasming
But instead left
Wondering about death
Wondering if you’ll die alone
By a road side
Strangers cursing your breath
Sun and rain striking your skin.
November 15, 2009
I seem to have gone full hog on this Twitter thing after spending so long thinking “why would I want to tweet my every moment” I now realise I perhaps was not being creative enough about it. Follow my tweets at www.Twitter.com/coelhoaa
August 20, 2009
I have five new poems in “Read me at School” published by Macmillan and edited byGaby Morgan. This is a fantastic anthology with poems for every day of the year. Available in all good bookshops.
My featured poems are…
How to kill a poet
Hamster! Hamster!
Make it bigger Eileen
Miss Flotsam
Lace Trouble
Check em out!
August 20, 2009
I’m currently co-writing an adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears with Jonathon Lloyd for Polka theatre. Writing another childrens play has been great fun and a welcome break from the little annoyances of life that have to be sorted out on a regulare basis such as broken compute, Tv, Computer, phone upgrades TAX dreaded awful TAX!!!! etc etc. The play will open on Wednesday 21st October at Polka Theatre in Wimbledon – if you have any little-uns be sure to take em along.
http://www.polkatheatre.com/whatson.asp?showID=318&theatreID=1&view=
June 4, 2009
I’ve just had last minute confirmation that there is space for me to do the BHF London to Brighton 2009 on 21/06/2009 to raise money for British Heart Foundation. It would be great if you could help me reach my target – since I’ve only got two weeks to fundraise I’m aiming to get around £250. Please take a moment to sponsor me. It’s really easy – you can donate online by credit or debit card at the following address: http://www.justgiving.com/poetryjoe All donations are secure and sent electronically to British Heart Foundation. If you are a UK taxpayer, Justgiving will add an automatic 28% bonus to your donation at no cost to you. Please join me in supporting British Heart Foundation and a fabulous cause! I will be writing poems in response to the experience so do expect many new poems very soon.
February 1, 2009
I recently collaborated with Tim Webb on Oily Cart Christmas Show ‘How Long is a piece of String’ The show has had great reviews which can be checked out at the sites below. It was such fun to work on you can follow my postings on the process as well as some additional stories from the world of the show at…
www.oilycart.blogspot.com
Reviews…
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/22946/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jan/24/review-how-long-is-a-piece-of-string
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article5415505.ece
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Oily-Cart–Two-ends.4877092.jp
More info on Oily Cart
http://www.oilycart.org.uk/early_years/current/
